Ooops! Forgot my blog??

....I don't know what I have been doing lately, but I've been very busy....! So much so, that I haven't even updated my BLOG! A lot of my time has been spent in my Craft Room and it's truly my greatest LOVE!

The card (below) is one I completed this week for a "Ribbon" card challenge in the Q Scappers Group and it was quite a challenge! I did like the final version, but this was my third attempt!! LOL!!

The days are flying by and I can hardly believe the Summer is almost over and that Alex is going back to school on Tuesday!

I LOVE Summer so much, but I have to admit I was really getting burnt out a bit too much by all the hot and humid days and it's been nice to have the AC's off now and the windows open...nice cool air, too bad it's also pouring rain.

It's now about 4:30 on Saturday and Alex and Pack are both working. DH should be home soon and will likely have groceries, to get put away...it's been such a nasty day. A good crafting day and that's what I have been doing. Patty came over for awhile and she brought over her new Flower Soft kit and worked on some of the Christmas Cards, they look super cute and I'll look forward to working on mine. I've been working on the "BRAD" Card Challenge for the Scrapper Group and have also been playing the Cricut Design Studio and SCl...both of which I broke down and bought this week!

Happily, I bought them after finding I liked them BOTH and just could NOT pick one over the other..they both have different benefits. I also bought two Cricut Cartridges on sale at Kim's store today, which was a great deal.

I'm NOW officially going on the CRAFT WAGON on September 1st! Time to stop spending on me.....start focusing on saving and getting ready for the Holidays!!

So, that's it for today...leaving you with some pictures of my garden, as we wind down on Summer....! The first one was early Summer and the last one...is late summer...long after those gorgeous pansies were gone...

Ribbon Cards......a new challenge!

I love ribbon and I use it often on my cards. But, usually it's a simple bow or I use it for a border, and never thought much about using it some unique way. But, thanks to Heather in my "QVC Scrappers" group, I know have found some unique and different ways to use Ribbon. Heather has now created a "Weekly" Friday Challenge for those of us who want to participate in the group. The Ribbon Challenge was the very first challenge and ended up being fun!

It took me a while to come up with an idea, and my initial idea of braiding some ribbons into a design, just would NOT work for me! So...I went back to my desk and started again and decided to use ribbons as hangers for some "heart" die cuts I made. Once, I came up with the idea, it went along pretty well and that card ended up being my first of three. I took the idea and worked on two more cards on Sunday. I had the whole weekend pretty much "free" for crafting, so I took advantage of the time and enjoyed the challenge! I really LOVE taking on challenges as it MAKES me have to think and come up with new ideas.

Special thanks to Heather for coming up with the idea for a Weekly Challenge and also for taking the time to host the challenge! I am looking forward to seeing what new idea you come up with this week.

These are two of my completed "Ribbon" cards, it ended up being a very fun challenge! My favorite card is just about done and I'll post it in my next update!!

My Passion for Purple!!!

As you just might guess, PURPLE is my favorite color and I absolutely LOVE it. I love purple clothes, flip flops, earrings, eye shadow and so much more. I think everyone that knows me, knows JUST how much I LOVE purple!

This week (after the suggestion of a crafter friend, (RockerGal)...I decided I wanted to make my weekly Project 365 page, based ALL on a color...and can you guess what color I picked? Yes, Purple!

This is the second of my "Color" based pages and it's based on my LOVE of purple. I call it - "Passionate About Purple"

Happy Thursday!

This has been one of the BEST weeks of the Summer....every day has been Sunny, but also super hot and humid. As much as I LOVE Summer, I'm ready for a break from this high heat. Plus, my poor flowers could definitely use some rain.



DH and I both had a nice Birthday on Tuesday and received lots of great gifts from our family and friends. Thank you ALL for all the goodies....I LOVE all my gifts and was thrilled with everything. I'm spending a lot of my "money" on new Craft things and may even end up buying something from one of the HSN shows today. I do hope to get up to my LSS, "Absolutely Everything" on Saturday for their big sale and I also placed some orders this week from Cutters Creek and also from Cindy's new Stampin' UP site and also one order from Jo's for one of the Iris Carts for more storage! I can NEVER seem to resist a really good sale and took full advantage of having some extra cash to spend. Last night, we went out for Dinner at Latitude 43, a local seafood restaurant and also the place where my son is the Tavern Manager. We had a great meal and Brian treated to us an indulgent dessest tray...which was awesome. I had "peanut butter pie", which is DH's favorite, then a Hot Brownie sundae, along with more ice cream, hot fudge, carmel, fresh strawberries and so much more. We had so much left over, that we packed it up and brought some home for Alex. It was really nice and we the food was excellent. Yum! Now, I have to get back on track and eat VERY healthy today, so I won't gain any weight from that delicious dessert! Today, I'm enjoying a totally FREE day...no appointments, no errands, no tasks I have to do...so I want to craft and relax. I feel kind of tired and think the heat is getting to me, but otherwise, I'm okay! I'm off now to craft and enjoy a very nice day ....doing whatever I want!

Two Peas - August Card Challenge!

Well, it took my whole day on Sunday and even part of Saturday night, but I did manage to finish my cards for the Two Peas "A Year In Cards" challenge! But, not without ruining a whole lot of paper first, and almost totally giving up with after having so many failures. When I first saw the challenge I though, oh this will be easy as can be....well...NOT so much!

The first card (window card), is intended to teach you how to make a window card and also how to stamp on acetate and add it to your window. As you'll see, despite a few attempts, I never did get my stamp to work. Every INK I tried. smudged or blurred. I ended up using a die cut. Another problem I found was that out of ALL the stamps I own...I have very little in the line of borders...so I had to make due with what was closest to a border image. Again, not what I liked.

Then on the Multi image stamped card...I forget about my new stamp guide and had many failed attempts at trying to get my images correctly aligned and also to pick good colors that work well and still showed up.

The third card, ended up being the easiest and I used a cute little angel stamp that I love! In the end, I am HAPPY they are done, but do NOT really like any of them and hope the next challenge is a lot different and easier than this ONE!!

These the the cards....

The window card I ended up doing twice, this was one of my early attempts...but if you look close you'd find the image is NOT stamped on the Acetate it's one the paper behind...

Then after many other attempts, I ended up using
the "Purple Ribbon" die cut instead!

This is my "Multi" image card..and as you
can see, it's not only boring...but very crooked!!! LOL!



And then I finally did this, which ended up being my favorite.
I should have stamped the angel on another color,
as the cream blended in, but by the time I finished this one
I was WAY too tried to make another!!

Another week is almost over....

I guess as we get older times really does fly by, at least it sure seems that way to me! I just wish it wasn't going this fast and that Summer would last a whole lot longer!

We had a beautiful weekend here and one of hottest of the Summer. It may officially hit 90 in Boston and if so, it may be the first time, or so they say. It sure seems like it has been a whole lot hotter than that.

Thank goodness for AC, I can't imagine not having it and love having my house nice and cool. I spent most of the weekend crafting and have finally realized that I'm just NOT a beach person anymore. Something I never thought I would say. I used to LIVE at the beach all Summer, but now I can't sit that long, can stand the hot sun and just do not feel well enough to go and not I don't miss it. I LOVE my crafting and I am so happy to be doing that!

Today, I finished up my Project 365 page for the week. One of the girls had mentioned doing pages by color, so I did a PINK week and it worked out cute. I was able to include my Prize from Cutters Creek and also some of favorite little Pink things. Pink is my second favorite color, and I love it, because it's such a Girlie Girl color! Perfect for me..the only female in this house! Here are some pictures of my PINK page --

This is me working..A Page in Progress,

This is the how it turned out... The Final Version...
And some close-ups....

WooHOO! I won a Prize from Cutters Creek!

Like I said earlier, this really must be my LUCKY Month! Today, I received my Cutter Creek order than inside was the adorable "Pink Apron" that I won in our Craft Group. Kim, the owner had been to CHA and when she came home, she decided to have a contest in each of her Craft Groups and I actually WON in my group! I could not believe it, because I usually never win anything!

I won this super cute PINK APRON and I'm thrilled. It's also has a Pink Ribbon, so that in itself makes it even more special to me, as I am supporter of Breast Cancer Awareness! It's really nice and I LOVE it!

Here are a few pictures from earlier this afternoon.

Look at this gift I received!

This must be my lucky Summer!

Out of the blue one of the gals from the BEAUTY MISfits made me an adorable basket...all in Purple and Pink and lined with the most adorable Flip-Flip Material. She knows I Love flip flops and special ordered this Fabric for me. It was an early Birthday Gift and a wonderful SURPRISE! I love RAK (random acts of kindness) and I plan to surprise someone with one this week, I hope they enjoy their package, which is already on its' way.

My special thanks to Becky for making me this adorable basket --



For anyone who doesn't know, Becky absolutely LOVES lighthouses and when we met the at Beauty Bash I had brought everyone a local post card and a sand dollar as a way to show them where I live. I just happened to pick a light house picture post card for her and the found out, she adores them and had actually once been in my hometown to visit and see the local lighthouses! How Cool! One day I was out shopping and came across a really cute little wood lighthouse all decorated in a Americana theme for the 4th of July, so I bought it and sent it off to her! But, that was nothing, compared to the time and effort she put into this gift. It's going to be in my Craft Room and the basket I use to hold all my cards!

Thanks Becky, you're a doll and I love my Basket!

Sunday.....the weekend is almost over...

I can't believe how fast time flies by and the weekends ALWAYS seem to go by the fastest! WHY?

Today started out as another wonderful weather day, the air is nice and cool and dry and it was beautiful and sunny in the morning. Now, it's getting dark and is all cloudy, its' only 4:30 PM and I had to put on the lights to see, it feels more like 7 or 8PM. We do need some rain for the flowers, but I sure wish it had held off until later tonight, so that people could enjoy a full weekend of good weather. It certainly has NOT been a good Summer here, but has improved.

Today, I worked on my Project 365 page and I used all the flower picture I had taken earlier in the week. I like how the page came out and that's a change for me, and I'm not the best scrapper. I even picked colors that are NOT generally my favorites, but it all went together well. This if the final version....






I really am learning to use my Cricut more and more and I like it more every day. Between that and my Cuttlebug...I really have learned how to make a lot of new things and I've learned to add lots and shapes and textures to my cards and pages.

After I finished my page, I worked on the "Swap" packets for the Product Swap. It's turned out to be a wonderful group and perfect for me. Everyone does a lot together and there are two other gals with Fibro, so I feel very at home. I also really like Kim, the group owner. She's such a doll and I can tell we are going to be good friends. We share a lot of common interests and things in our families. The girls are all so nice and easy to know! Deborah and I have also found out that we share a LOT of common interests and she now is the process of creating a new craft room, so it's been fun to chat about that. The funny thing is that I've been shopping at Kim's eBay store for well over a year...but only recently learned about her group and her online store. I'm so grateful that our little chats ended up bringing all these new ladies into my life and that I now have a great place to to and learn from some super craft girls! Woohoo!! I can tell already, that I'm going to have some wonderful NEW friends in my life and that's such a nice thing. I'm blessed and LOVE having a lot of friends, both online and here locally. Having friends all around the country is really nice and these gals are much like the MISfits...all are really fun and easy to know! I just LOVE my groups and all the fun they bring into my life. I think without them, I'd be a bit lost! FRIENDS are awesome and one thing...you can never have too many of!

Now.... the fact that I am often home bound, (due to Fibro), doesn't bother me, nearly as much as before. I may not be able to do ALL the things I once did, and I may be home almost every day, but it's okay. Having all these wonderful new friends along with my crafting has turned out to be a blessing. I think without those changes, I would have ended up very lonely and depressed! Thank goodness for the Internet...it's brought a whole new world of friends to me!! And because of limited activity, I feel that it's even more important for me to have so many online friends, people that can understand this illness and can relate to it. Thanks ladies...it's been such a pleasure to meet ALL of you.

Well now it's about time for dinner and I need to get DH to get the grill going. He's going to grill some burgers and dogs and I already made big green salad...a perfect summer dinner for us and an easy one too

Bye Bye...

My FIbro is flairing....ARGH!

Gosh do I ever HATE this darn illness? Why did I end up with Fibromyalgia and disc disease? What did I do to deserve this misery...GRRR!!!

Today I feel like crap again ~ terrible neck and shoulder pain for the second day in the row!! Geesh!!


Please PRAY for a cure....this is NO way to enjoy life...living every day in some level of pain!!

Another HOT and HUMID day...

Our very typical August weather is here! Hot, Hazy and Humid! And after all the RAIN we had in June, the hot and humid weather is kind of nice change and making people very happy to finally be outside and hitting the beaches. Today, will the the 4th or 5th day in the row that it's been this nice! I can't say the I Love the high humidity, but I don't mine the heat. The humidity though for me, is just as bad for my Fibro and the cold winter air, so I have been hurting.

I'm and loving spending time in my new Craft Space and very thankful that the AC in there keeps the room nice and cool. It also keeps all my paper in great condition and it's not musty or damp at all! Even though I have not been able to do too much this week, because of my neck pain, I did finish my project 365 Page for last week and this is it. It ALL things the I LOVE! I kind of like how it came out, even though I really had now idea of what I was going to put together, with ALL the different pictures I had.

The one good thing about ALL the rain we had in the early Summer, has been how wonderful my gardens look, these are some pictures I took yesterday and my favorites are the Hydrangea flowers, they are so pretty and my favorite color, of course!

So that's about it for now, I have to go to the dentist today (Yuk) for any bi-yearly cleaning. This has been my appointment week -- Nails on Monday, a Hair Cut on Tuesday and now the Dentist today, but after today, I'm FREE! Tomorrow, I plan to craft ALL day and on Friday Alex and I are heading out of town to shop and get my license renewed. We'll do the RMV thing first and then I'm shopping for DH for his birthday and some school things for ALEX! We always have fun taking a day to do something together, so I am looking forward to that. By Friday, it's supposes to be gorgeous with temps in the high 70's and dry fresh air...! I can't wait!

It's SUNDAY!

....and it looks like it may pour rain at any moment? So much for a nice weekend! Luckily, yesterday was nice, hot and humid, but at least it was not raining.

I spend a lot of time crafting and I am working on a Christmas Card swap for the QVC Scrapper group, a 70th Birthday card for my Aunt, two cards for a Challenge at the Crafty MISfts and my Project 365 page. It's nice to have a lot to do and I'm enjoying spending the time in my new SPACE!

Here are some pictures are my projects....

This is one of the Christmas Cards --

And another...



And this is my Aunt's Card....In Progress...


and another view....


And these are my RIBBON RINGS!
Thanks to Sharon, who told me ALL about them!
I LOVE them and will be adding more!


They make it so nice and easy to find and organize my
Ribbons! Wish I had come up with this idea!

PS: Kim from my Craft Group is now
selling the Ribbon Rings at her store:
Cutters Creek! Check out her
prices...they are awesome!!